AIHA voices its support for employers who find innovative ways to encourage vaccination among workers or develop workable programs to mandate vaccination in the workforce where warranted

Federal workplace safety regulators on Wednesday, August 18, 2021, proposed $1.3 million in penalties for the construction company that employed two men who died when they were struck by a dump truck and pushed into a 9-foot (2.75-meter) deep trench at a sewer project in Boston in February, according to the Associated Press.

OSHA on August 13, 2021 issued updated guidance to help employers protect workers from the coronavirus. The updated guidance reflects developments in science and data, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's updated COVID-19 guidance issued July 27.

It’s not yet common for companies to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations. However, with the Delta variant spreading rapidly in the United States and elsewhere, there’s a growing number of companies taking that route. Here are five of the related manufacturing and industrial organizations doing it and the specifics associated with each.

In 2021, OSHA released COVID safety guidelines for meat plants and other food processing facilities — but stopped short of making them mandatory. The agency recommends using certain safety measures, such as face coverings and paid time off for employees to receive vaccinations. However, it does not require employers to follow these rules or produce written hazard analyses or safety plans.

On July 26, Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough announced he will make COVID-19 vaccines mandatory for Title 38 VA health care personnel — including physicians, dentists, podiatrists, optometrists, registered nurses, physician assistants, expanded-function dental auxiliaries and chiropractors — who work in Veterans Health Administration facilities, visit VHA facilities or provide direct care to those VA serves.

A North Georgia chicken plant and its associated companies face $1 million in fines and dozens of citations from OSHA over the deaths of six workers and injuries of a dozen in a nitrogen accident in January.

As the CDC has recommended all Americans, regardless of coronavirus vaccination status, return to wearing face coverings in indoor public places to help thwart the spread of the highly contagious delta variant, the mask debate is in the spotlight once again. But some experts say the recommendations should specify the kind of masks people should be using.

MISSION® and Magid® announced they are coming together with The Korey Stringer Institute (KSI) at the University of Connecticut, the nation’s leading heat safety advocate and research institute,  to form the National Heat Safety Coalition.

Organizations are mandated by law to establish workplace safety programs to guarantee a safe and healthy work environment. Prioritizing safety in an organization reduces the number of work-related incidents and protects assets from damage.